Food and the Great Outdoors in Vancouver

I visited Vancouver once before, probably sometime around middle school. It was so long ago all I really remember from that trip was eating some seafood and driving around somewhere with a lot of trees (that would be Stanley Park). We’ve heard so many rave reviews about the delicious food and great outdoors scene there, that we decided to tack on a few extra days to our Whistler ski trip so that we could spend some time touring Vancouver.

Day 1 - Pre-ski Eats

By the time we flew in and checked into our hotel for the night, it was already mid-afternoon. We had an early bus up to Whistler the next day so we couldn’t stay out too late, but there was still plenty of time to head over to Granville Island and get a first taste of the local cuisine. Our first stop was the Granville Island Public Market where we were completely blown away by the sheer number of food vendors and produce stands. The original plan was to snack a little bit here and then later get dinner back in downtown, but we ended up snacking so much that it basically became our dinner. Highlights were the donuts from Lee's Donuts and fresh made meat bagels from Siegel's Bagels. Yup, donuts and bagels. We are simple people.

Granville Island Market

We did leave some room for a little beer tasting at Granville Island Brewing. You could order their “Full Map” tasting flight which includes samples of all ten of their current beers on tap. We weren’t quite up for that much beer, so we just got a normal flight of four. This being Canada, we obviously had to try their maple flavored beer. It was pretty good, but my favorite was the seasonal Winter Wit. We didn't stay too long because we still needed to get up early the next morning to head up to Whistler, but I would be down to come back and try more of their beers sometime. At $7 CAD for a flight of 4, the price really can't be beat.

Beer and poutine from the Granville Island Brewery

Day 2 - Post-ski Sightseeing

One of our must-do’s while in Vancouver was to head over to Richmond and have some good dim sum. After getting back from skiing at Whistler, we decided to go to Kirin Seafood Restaurant, the second highest rated dim sum restaurant there on Yelp (their opening hours worked better for our schedule than the highest rated one). Despite it being a weekday morning, the restaurant was almost completely full. We were able to get a table, but the hostess told us we would only have an hour to eat. Challenge accepted. We ordered all the typical dim sum dishes. Surprisingly, they did not have XLB on the menu, but they did have some amazing spring rolls and shrimp dumplings.

Vancouver's famous dim sum

After dim sum, we went over to the Aberdeen Center mall to walk around and digest. This being Richmond, it made sense that the mall would cater to Asians, but I was surprised just how Asian it was… It’s definitely the most Asian mall I’ve seen outside of Asia with stores selling massage tables and ginseng, and even a multi-story Daiso - it was actually kind of disorienting. We grabbed a drink from the food court (consisting entirely of Asian vendors) and continued on our way.

It was raining so we didn’t spend too much time outside, but we did make a stop at Queen Elizabeth Park to take a few pictures and see all the tropical birds at the Bloedel Conservatory. Once it got to evening, we made our way over to the UBC Museum of Anthropology where they were having their weekly discount night of $10 admission instead of the usual $18. The museum was pretty big and had a massive collection of artifacts from cultures all around the world. The main focus is still on Canada’s First Nations cultures, with lots of towering totem poles and ceremonial wood carvings to see. You could easily spend a few hours here exploring all the different exhibits, and if you’re only going to see one museum in Vancouver, this is the one I would recommend.

Wood carvings at the Museum of Anthropology

Day 3 - Fun in the Sun

With sun and clear skies in the forecast for our last day in town, we decided to spend the day mostly outdoors, checking out a few of the best parks in and around Vancouver. First stop was Stanley Park, a must-see for anyone visiting. If we had more time, I would have liked to do a walk or run around the perimeter of the park along the seawall trail. The park is pretty big, around ten kilometers around, so it would’ve taken awhile. Instead, we picked a few segments of the trail to walk, and the views were absolutely stunning. We parked by the totem pole area and walked out to the eastern tip of the park, where we could get a great panoramic view of downtown Vancouver on the right and North Vancouver on the left, separated by the deep blue waters of Vancouver Harbor. 

View of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

When it got close to noon, we drove north across the Lions Gate Bridge and over to Lonsdale Quay, another indoor food market. The selection of food there was great, but it was surprisingly  much less crowded or touristy than Granville Market. It’s probably because Lonsdale Quay is much farther from downtown and basically requires a car to get to. In any case, we appreciated the fact that we had a rental car and enjoyed a nice quiet lunch of salmon chowder, artisan pizza, and Korean fried chicken, for once not having to jostle with other tourists to get food.

Lonsdale Quay Market

Last stop of the trip was Lighthouse Park, a small hiking area way over in West Vancouver. The park is pretty well hidden in a residential area and definitely had a locals feel, with groups of students hanging out and rock climbers hiking out with all their gear. The trails were short, but the vista points were spectacular. On one side of the park you could see Stanley Park and downtown Vancouver across the bay. On the other side were breathtaking views of Bowen Island and the vast Salish Sea. It was a bit of a trek to get out here, but I thought the views were worth it. Just don’t try driving back into the city at rush hour like we did…

View of the Salish Sea from Lighthouse Park

Overall we had a great time in Vancouver. The food was delicious, the sights were great, and the people were all super nice (especially the elderly British lady running one of the restaurants we ate at who assured us she would personally make a call to Trump if we had trouble getting back into the US). I’m glad we took the few extra days to explore Vancouver after getting back from Whistler, and I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a dedicated Vancouver trip in the future!

Whistler Ski Trip

Widely known to have the best skiing in North America, Whistler-Blackcomb could be considered the “holy grail” of skiing. This year, the resort was included as part Vail’s Epic Pass for the first time. So naturally, Michael and I jumped at the opportunity to take a trip there and get a few days of skiing in on our passes. We’ve skied at Park City and various Tahoe resorts in the past, but after our recent trip, Whistler is by far my favorite. Everything from the breathtaking views at the summit to the great village atmosphere contributed to make an amazing experience. Below are some of the highlights from our trip, both on and off the mountain.

On the mountain:

If I could only pick one run to recommend, the Blackcomb glacier run would be it. To get to the start of the run from Whistler Village, you have to take a gondola, two chair lifts, a T-bar, and then still hike up some 30 feet. But it is so worth it. Once you get to the top, you’re greeted with a majestic view of the snow covered glacier, surrounded by imposing peaks and emptying out into a small valley that eventually joins up with the other runs. We did this as one of our first runs of the day so there were very few other skiers, meaning we were able to get plenty of fresh turns in as we descended the glacier. 

View across the top of the glacier

Skiing down the glacier

My second favorite run was the Dave Murray Downhill on the Whistler side, the actual run used for the men’s downhill event during the 2010 Olympics. The smooth turns and nice grooming makes it really conducive to speed runs, and we had some fun going fast (though not as fast as the Olympians, obviously) down the run. Don’t miss the photo op by the Olympic rings about 3/4 of the way down.

Missed taking a picture of the rings on the mountain, so here's one in the village

I’ve wanted to try Ski Cross ever since I first watched it on the Olympics, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Whistler actually had a Snow Cross course open to the public. The course is an offshoot of the main Blackcomb terrain park, and contains all the sharp turns, rollers, and jumps you would expect from Snow Cross. The features weren’t quite as big as what you see on TV, so it’s pretty accessible to anyone intermediate level and above. It was really fun racing through the course. I’d recommend trying it out at least once for anyone interested, not least because it’s the only resort I’ve ever been to that offered an open course like this.

Off the mountain:

The ski resort is obviously the main attraction in Whistler, but Whistler Village shines even off the mountain. There’s so much to see and do, even if you’re not into shopping. Every Sunday evening, Whistler puts on Fire and Ice, an action-packed show featuring performers spinning fire sticks and professional skiers and snowboarders showing off their best tricks off a huge jump. We got there early to grab a good spot, and got to watch the athletes do some warm-up jumps while waiting for the show to start. Best of all, the show was free! 

Watching the warm-ups for Fire and Ice

Of course, what’s a ski village without great food? Whistler did not disappoint on this - I don’t think we had a single bad meal while we were there. My absolute favorite were the Aussie pies from Peaked Pies. Picture hearty meat pies, freshly baked with mashed potato, mashed peas, and gravy on top. They tasted amazing after a day on the slopes. It was so good we ended up going there three times in four days…

So many different meat pies!

Fully loaded Peaked Pie

Even though we spent almost four full days in Whistler, I feel like we barely scratched the surface in terms of what it has to offer. I would love to make a return trip to try some backcountry skiing with one of Whistler’s professional guides, visit the Olympic Sliding Center and ride in a bobsled, or ski on the Snow Cross course again, this time racing head to head with a group of friends. Visiting and skiing at Whistler was a great experience, and I hope to be back someday!